Law chief's shame at office broadcast

By Sean O'Neill

12:00AM GMT 02 Dec 2000

THE former vice-president of the Law Society was subjected to a humiliating announcement over the office public address system calling staff to a meeting to discuss allegations that she was a bully, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.

Kamlesh Bahl said she found the message so offensive that she left the building. Ms Bahl, who was the first woman and ethnic minority vice-president of the Law Society, is seeking damages for race and sex discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal.

She resigned her post earlier this year after an inquiry by a former judge found that she had bullied staff. Ms Bahl, 44, a former chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, denies the allegations. She told the tribunal in Watford, Hertfordshire, that members of the public could still have been in the Chancery Lane offices when the announcement of the meeting was broadcast.

Ms Bahl said: "The Tannoy message was particularly humiliating and offensive. I have never heard a Tannoy message about a meeting in all the time I have been a member of the society. I found the message so offensive that I actually left the building."

Ms Bahl said there was "no evidence of impartiality on the part of management" or other council members" in discussing the complaints. She added that her emails had been deleted at a time when she was preparing her case for a disciplinary inquiry. Ms Bahl said: "I asked a staff member to check this. I was told the emails had been deleted and that nobody else had experienced this."